


Half-Life VR: But The Characters Are Different

by StagePlay



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Coomer Clones and Bubby Prototypes still exist, F/F, I put my own characters in the story because I do what I want, More tags will be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25750312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StagePlay/pseuds/StagePlay
Summary: I have this story idea with elemental magical girls where the villainess dates the main character’s mum. Then I decided to make an hlvrai au because I’m a self-indulgent little shit.Might be interesting to people who want to see different character dynamics, such as: Eldritch sisters trying to hide their inhumanity, a mother-daughter duo trying to survive, and the Tommy equivalent knowing what her dad does and being Very Concerned.





	1. Chapter 1: Just a Normal Work Day

16th May 200X. Magissa was standing at her post in Sector C. She had been working as a Black Mesa security guard for a few years now, and living on earth for slightly longer, nearly a decade in fact. She and her sister had chosen the planet in a desperate bid for a better life. Here, she was known as Margaret Soldati, or “Maggie”, as she had been affectionately nicknamed.

Today was meant to be a normal day on Earth, except for two things. One, it was her “birthday”. She didn’t know what her actual birthday translated to on Earth’s calendar, so when pressed by her coworker so answered with the day she and her sister arrived on Earth. It was fitting in a sense. The other thing was that there would be a particularly important experiment today in their sector involving the “Anti-Mass Spectrometer”. The latter of which, her coworker was currently rabbiting on about.

Opposite to her was an early twenty-something named Uri Brandt. She was a very spunky and energetic young human, although it almost seemed she never took her job seriously. She was a good employee, of course, but her attitude towards her job seemed a bit too laid-back for what was appropriate. Magissa could name various things Uri did; she rarely stood up straight, didn’t like tucking in her shirt or tying her tie, and she only did the bare minimum when it came to tying back her hair, with her shoulder-length amber locks poking out from under her helmet.

Today, she was particularly excited, gesticulating to Magissa with her hands wildly.

“-Y’know I’ve never actually seen what happens inside the Barrel. It’s probably pretty cool though because it involves a huge laser. Apparently today they’re analysing a huge crystal and it’s pretty important. Probably why they called my mum in. Speaking of which, where the hell is she?”

Uri looked down at her wrist watch and made an annoyed pout.

“She’s late. She should be here by now!” Uri said, impatiently tapping her foot.

“Y’know what? Screw it! I’m going over to the observation room. Because it’s my mum they’re letting me watch and I’m not missing it. Be sure to let her through when she arrives, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” Magissa replied.

“Cool, thanks bud!” Uri typed a code into the nearby panel and started making her way through the huge automatic doors, when she quickly turned back around.

“Oh yeah! Happy birthday! I have something for you but it’s a surprise~!”

And with that she turned and ran off ahead.

Magissa was alone now. With Uri as her coworker the silence around her was actually notable. Still, she only stood up straight and looked ahead. She had to be the perfect employee.

That aforementioned silence didn’t last long though, when echoing down the hall came the noise of a speed walking human. She threw a “Howdy!” and a wave at a nearby guard, and then a “Hello!” at Magissa herself. She was an older human, possibly mid-40’s, which was coincidentally around the same age Magissa chose for her own human form. The human woman had hazel eyes and long, tied-back amber hair, both surprisingly similar to Uri. Magissa did not question it, most humans looked similar. Most notably, she was wearing the official Mark IV Hazardous Environment Suit, that and pink underwear.

... Wait what?

No, Magissa wasn’t mistaken. She looked down to see that the zipper on the HEV suit was in fact open, leaving the human slightly... exposed.

Oh shit.  _ Oh shit. _ What was she supposed to do? Pointing out those kinds of things was socially awkward for humans, wasn’t it? But she couldn’t have this human just walk around like that, it’s against the dress code! Possibly indecent! She’d have to stop the human and discreetly fix it herself, but how?

That’s when Magissa remembered something very important, the new passport policy. As of today she was meant to enforce it anyway. It was perfect.

“Excuse me,” Magissa said, walking towards the human.

The human stopped and spun back around. “Yes, what is it?”

“Can I see your passport?”

“My passport? You mean like a company ID?”

She doesn’t have her passport. Great.

“I’m sorry but that means you aren’t allowed in here.”

The human gave a disbelieved chuckle. “I don’t- I don’t have my passport! I mean, look at me! I’m in the HEV suit!”

The human gestures to herself. True, she was indeed in the HEV suit. Still no passport though.

“I need to go to the test chamber. Am I being held up here? Am I not being allowed to go do my job?” The human pointed back towards the automatic doors. She almost seemed nervous, like she had no idea what was happening.

“No, but I’ll have to follow you. Also I want your passport, please?”

“ _ I don’t have my- _ Look at me!” The human seemed to be getting more flustered. “I’m already late so every scientist is rushing me in-“

The human finally seemed to be distracted, going on her own little tangent. Perfect. While the human looked away Magissa quickly crouched and zipped up the fly, barely making a noise. The human didn’t even seem to notice. Crisis averted.

Except it wasn’t.

The human still lacked her passport, or any ID for that matter. Sure she was in the suit but what if it was stolen? Magissa would rather not leave her post but this was more important.

“So you’re coming with me?” asked the human, annoyance beginning to tinge her voice.

“I’m sorry but I  _ will _ have to follow you until I get your ID.”

The human pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a long, tired sigh. Her patience was beginning to drain. She put a firm hand on Magissa’s shoulder and said in a sarcastically sweet, motherly voice, “Well I’m sure we can find something that will make you happy.”

With that the two finally made it through the doors. Uri really should have kept them locked.

The human looked Magissa up and down as they walked together. “Are you going to be okay? There’s going to be radiation and you’re not wearing the suit.” Her voice was softer, perhaps she was genuinely concerned.

Magissa wasn’t sure how to answer. She couldn’t say no because she still needed to follow the human, but she wasn’t wearing the suit either. Of course the human would think radiation could hurt her. She needed some other excuse, and something fast.

“It’s okay I’m-“ Come on, think of something! “ _ I’m not human. _ ”

Magissa wanted to scream.


	2. Chapter 2: Ominous but Comforting

Today was going to be an important day, and Cassidy knew it. She was currently in her dorm’s bathroom, fumbling about with a variety of colourful plastic hair clips. She wanted to look her best after all.

She’d only worked at Black Mesa for a short while, yet her diligence had already gotten her recommended to the higher ups for today’s experiment. The Xen crystal her father had collected and kindly donated was being examined today. It was sure going to be an interesting one, GG-3883 was the purest and most  _ unstable _ sample the facility had gotten yet. Cassidy couldn’t wait to see what the Anti-Mass Spectrometer would pick up from it.

She took a step back and eyed herself. A variety of colourful pastel stars adorned her blonde curls. Not too much to be tacky, but it certainly made an impression.

Cassidy had never really cared for the dress code anyway. Instead of a tight-collared shirt and boring tie, she went with something more colourful. A yellow t-shirt with a large white star in the middle, jeans with colourful printed hearts and bright yellow trainers. She thought she looked nice. Was it appropriate for work?  _ Hell no! _ But who was going to stop her?

She nearly left the bathroom when she remembered the pièce de résistance, a pair of pom-pom earrings.

Don’t get her wrong, she took this job very seriously. In fact, while she was excited for today, she also had this  _ slight _ gnawing fear in her stomach. Once again this particular sample was  _ unstable _ . If the scientists weren’t careful things could go horribly wrong, and they probably didn’t even know. Still, being preoccupied with her appearance had mostly kept her fears at bay,

Until there was a knock at the door.

Cassidy lived mostly alone. Despite living in the Level 3 Dormitories she was never given a roommate. The only other thing living with her was her pet dog Zephyr, who was currently asleep in his bed. He looked cute all curled up, and being a Bichon Frise made him look like a tiny cloud.

Cute dog aside though, who could be knocking?

Cassidy went over and opened the door.

In front of her, was a tall, plump man. He was visibly an older man, with his hair and beard having aged white. He had dark skin, but his eyes were a piercing yellow. They almost seemed to glow. He wore a black pinstripe suit and yellow tie, and carried a briefcase. Despite his business formal appearance though, he wore a warm smile.

“Oh!” Cassidy was taken off guard. “Hi dad!”

“Hello, my dear,” he said warmly, It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

It certainly had. Cassidy knew her dad had it good with the higher-ups at Black Mesa. She’d actually seen him a few times around the facility, talking to various scientists and officials, but they never had the time to talk. Besides, he was usually busy with his  _ actual job _ anyway.

“Uh, yeah! It has,” Cassidy said, scratching the back of her neck. “It’s- it’s good to see you but... why are you here?”

He clasped his chest in mock offence. “Can a father not check in on his darling baby girl?”

“Yeah but-“

“Don’t worry, I know what you mean. This is a bit surprising for the both of us.”

“Ah, right.” That usually wasn’t good. Cassidy remembered where she needed to be. “Actually, I’d love to chat but I really need to go-“

“For the experiment?”

Cassidy stopped. “Y... yes.”

“That’s actually what I’m here to talk about, if you don’t mind.” He gestured into the room. “May I come in?”

Cassidy stepped to the side so he could, and her father shut the door behind him. She could feel like anxious nausea in her stomach growing.

“Cassidy, as you know today’s experiment is very important. That’s part of the reason why I recommended you for it.”

Right. She should have expected her father had something to do with her being chosen.

“Not only have you performed well when previously operating the Anti-Mass Spectrometer, but-“

“It’s related to your job. Isn’t it?”

Her father’s cheery demeanour faltered.

“... Yes.”

She should have known.  _ She should have known- _

“Cassidy,” her father said firmly, placing his hands in her shoulders. “I know you’re worried. You have every right to be. But no matter what your gut tells you the experiment MUST happen. You understand how these things are.”

Cassidy looked down at the floor, she nodded.

Her father softened. “You’re a very brave girl, my dear, and I’m so proud of you, but there is another thing I must ask of you.”

Cassidy looked up.

“You will be spending the next few hours with a particular group of people. Your job is to keep them safe. I wouldn’t be asking this if I didn’t believe in you.”

She nodded, despite having so many questions.

Her father pulled her into a warm hug. “You’re so strong, my dear, and I know you’ll do great.”

That made Cassidy smile. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into her father’s embrace. She was still scared, but her father made it feel like everything was going to be okay.

Her dad planted a small kiss on her head, and he was gone.

Cassidy was once again alone.

She looked over to Zephyr. He was still asleep. To an extent, she almost envied him.

She walked over to her not-so-3D dog and gave his back a soft stroke.

“Seems I have a long day ahead of me. See you soon bud.”

And with that she left for Sector C.


	3. Chapter 3: Off to The Barrel

Brandy wasn’t really sure how to respond to the security guard’s odd statement, but she noticed how the woman’s hands clenched and her posture stiffened. Her walking speed increased too, making it a little hard for Brandy to keep up.

Right, it was probably just a slip of the tongue. She almost felt bad for the guard, maybe she’s just feeling embarrassed? Yeah, that was probably it.

After a few more minutes of walking, and a few more comments from the guard regarding her passport, they were finally getting close to the Barrel.

Brandy noticed the two guards outside the automatic doors they had just passed through.

“Well those guys didn’t ask me for my passport, so what’s the deal with you?” she said, pointing back at them.

The guards just stared blankly. “Yes well, they’re not doing their job right. They’re probably thinking about... fruit loops all day.”

“ _ Fruit loops!? _ ”

“Fruit loops.”

Brandy was quickly getting tired of this guard’s shit.

Just then another scientist started running over.

“Ma’am! Ma’am! You’re not allowed in here, you don’t have an HEV suit on.”

Oh thank god, it was directed at the guard. Finally, someone with some sense.

Brandy took a moment to look at the scientist. She was certainly a younger woman, probably around her daughter’s age. She also appeared to be Hispanic. Notably though her short, ear-length hair was sky blue. Last time Brandy checked dyed hair was against dress code. Interesting. Along with that instead of the usual shirt and tie, she was wearing a similarly blue turtleneck under her lab coat.

Brandy was taken out of her thoughts regarding the young scientist’s (admittedly rather stylish) appearance when the guard simply replied,

“It’s alright, I have my ID.”

The young scientist gave a disinterested “Oh okay.” and went back to her work.

Brandy sighed. The guard inched uncomfortably close to her face and said, “See what happens when you bring your ID and your passport?”

When Brandy finally made it to the airlock doors, she saw the guard was still trying to follow her.

“Hey hey hey!” she snapped, “You can’t go any farther than this. There’s radiation and shit,  _ you’re gonna die. _ ”

The guard’s expression didn’t shift at all. “This area has no pre-recorded deaths.”

Brandy groaned angrily. God, she wanted to punch a wall.

She firmly gripped the guard’s shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. The guard’s face tensed a bit.

“You know what buddy?  _ I guess you’re ri- _ “

She suddenly felt her face being pelted with... something. It was bright, blue and  _ squishy _ . Also did she just hear singing?

She jolted away from the guard.

“ _ What the... what the hell was that? _ ”

“Calm down.”

Brandy closed the door on the guard.

She slowly stepped towards the large airlock door, still trying to collect her thoughts after whatever the hell that was.

Oddly enough, she did feel calmer. Slightly.

She watched as two other scientists went to opposite panels to open the door. They were also trying to explain something about the experiment, but Brandy didn’t really care. At least she wouldn’t have to see that security guard anymore.

After a few seconds, the doors to the chamber slid open, only for Brandy to see... the security guard.

“HOW THE FU-“


	4. Everything Is Fine

This is fine! This is fine.  _ This is very, very fine. _

Cassidy kept telling herself that as she waited in the control room, anxiously tapping her finger on the control panel.

While she had appreciated her dad’s words of comfort, they only made her more scared. She’d never completely trusted her father’s employers. They were too mysterious, too vague. Cassidy never knew what exactly they wanted, so she tried to stay out of her father’s work as much as possible. She did her thing, he did his. But now their plans would involve today’s experiment?  _ And Cassidy herself? _

“Maybe it’s fine,” Cassidy thought, “Just because they’re unknowable, powerful entities doesn’t mean all their plans are malicious... right?”

She could only hope.

Cassidy looked over to the only other scientist in the room. Dr... Igneous, was her name, if she remembered correctly. She seemed to be around Cassidy’s age, but her demeanour was much more mature. For one she was adhering to the dress code, even down to the company shirt and tie. Her trousers seemed a bit too long for her though, with the cuffs catching a bit under her shoes. 

“Just because it’s company recommended doesn’t mean it’s good,” she thought to herself.

Most interestingly of all though, was the fact that Igneous’s hair was  _ green _ , a nice emerald green at that. Matched her glasses. Other than that her hair was pretty normal. Just straight with a clean-cut bob. Cassidy was only allowed to get away with her hair colour because it was natural, so what’s the deal with this lady?  _ Last time she checked regular humans couldn’t have green hair- _

“You’re staring.”

Oops.

“Ah! S- sorry about that! I got caught up in my thoughts!”

The woman huffed. She looked a bit tired, or just bored.

“Y- your hair’s nice! It looks good on you,” said Cassidy, desperately trying to make the situation less awkward.

“Right,” the doctor replied flatly.

Igneous looked down at her watch. “God, where the hell is everyone? We can’t keep this thing running forever.”

Right, the power. Another thing Cassidy was worrying about. Maybe  _ this _ was what her dad was talking about? They’d kicked the Spectrometer’s power up to 105% under orders from the Administrator. It had never been this high before, but today’s experiment was a special case, she supposed.

Cassidy tried not to think about how she saw some equipment explode on the way here. 

Just then a security guard burst through the door.

“Hi there! So sorry I’m late...”

Oh hey it was Uri. She and Cassidy ate lunch together sometimes. Now that she thought about it, Cassidy remembered being told that an extra person would be watching the experiment today.

“Can you  _ please _ tell us where your mother is?” asked Dr Igneous.

Uri was still taking a moment to catch her breath. Jeez, did she run all the way here?

“Yeah yeah, she’s just running late. She’ll be here in a bit,” Uri said, waving her hand nonchalantly.

The doctor sighed. “She better be.”

Uri looked over to Cassidy and gave a wave.

“Hey Cass! You lookin’ forward to today’s experiment?”

“Yeah! Yeah... real excited...”

Uri didn’t look all that convinced.

“It’s fine! It’s fine!” Cassidy reiterated before Uri could say anything. “It’s just nerves is all... I mean just look at that thing!”

Cassidy pointed at the Spectrometer through the window. Uri’s eyes went wide.

“WOAH!” she said, “I’ve never actually seen the full thing before. It’s quite the beast, huh?”

“Haha yeah,” said Cassidy, laughing shyly.

Another scientist walked into the room. Another woman, but with blue hair. Did dyed hair become unrestricted or something? And if so, why did no one tell her?

“She’s on her way, don’t worry,” said the new scientist.

Dr... Asturias? Yeah, that was it.

“Oh thank God,” said Dr Igneous, giving a sigh of relief. “Is she suited up?”

“Yep.”

“Good, good. Then the experiment should commence soon.”

About a minute passed, when Cassidy noticed something... odd.

Cassidy leaned forward and squinted her eyes, peering through the glass. 

Was that... a person? In the test chamber?

They didn’t appear to be wearing an HEV suit. They were in black and blue.

_ A security guard? _

Before more questions could race through Cassidy’s head, the test chamber airlock opened.

Out came an older woman, decked in orange. Oh hey, Cassidy realised she knew this lady. She’d met her before when she was on “lunch break” (Really it was just stress-drinking 7up).

That must be Dr Brandt then. Weird how Cassidy didn’t notice sooner. She and Uri do look alike. From their brief conversation she seemed to be rather friendly. A professional but fairly relaxed woman.

Right now though she was yelling at the mysterious security guard.

Dr Igneous scrambled towards the glass. 

“Who the HELL is that!?”

“That’s Dr Brandt, isn’t it?” said Dr Asturias. She was looking through some notes, not paying attention.

“No no no no no.  _ The security guard. _ ”

“Wait what?”

That got her attention.

All the women in the room were now watching whatever the hell was unfolding down below. The guard was seemingly following Dr Brandt around, meanwhile the doctor appeared to be getting more and more pissed.

Cassidy definitely heard a muffled “I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW THE FUCK YOU GOT IN HERE!” through the glass.

Cassidy pressed down the microphone button.

“Uh... hello?”

Dr Brandt stopped and looked up at the control room.

“Oh, Cassidy! Is that you?”

At least that calmed her down a bit.

Cassidy was only able to squeeze in a nervous “Hi!” before Uri grabbed the microphone.

“HEY MUM!” Uri said, waving down at the doctor.

She waved back. “Hi sweetie!”

The guard also gave a short wave.

Uri backed away from the microphone for a moment.

“Wait a fucking second...” She slammed down the microphone button. “MAGGIE? IS THAT YOU!?”

“... Hi.”

Igneous’s jaw dropped. “Do you know this woman!?”

“Well yeah, she’s my coworker. We’re friends.”

The scientist took a moment to regain her composure.

“Well then, can you ask her why the hell she’s in the test chamber!?”

“Yeah sure of course I can.” She leaned towards the mic again. “Hey Mags! What are you doing here, man!?”

Uri almost laughed. Well at least someone found this funny.

The guard pointed towards Dr Brandt. 

“She doesn’t have her passport.”

Cassidy heard Dr Asturias facepalm.

“ _ Oh my god can you PLEASE shut up about that!? _ ”

Asturias shoved her way towards the mic.

“With all due respect, Dr Brandt, can we please get back to the task at hand? We can sort this out later.”

Dr Brandt gave a resigned sigh. “Yeah... sorry about that.”

“It’s fine just... climb up the ladder and turn on the rotors.”

Brandt gave a thumbs up and made her way towards the ladder. The guard was still following her.

Crisis averted... for now.

Cassidy looked over to Uri. “Hey uh, Uri? Why is your friend following Dr Brandt around?”

Uri sighed and scratched the back of her neck.

“I- I’m not entirely sure. Maggie- uh, I mean  _ Margaret _ has always been a bit of stickler for the rules. You guys probably already know but that new passport policy was introduced today. I guess my mum just forgot...”

Uri had an apologetic look on her face.

“I mean I knew Margaret would try to enforce it but I didn’t expect THIS to happen. I’m... I’m sorry about all this.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” said Dr Asturias, “It’s a minor setback, sure, but it’s only a minor one. Besides, you aren’t responsible for how your friend is acting.”

“I... I guess not.”

They all watched as Dr Brandt flipped the switches for the rotors.

“ROTOR’S ON!” she called out.

Cassidy watched as the insides of the Spectrometer began to whir and spin. The low noise it made was weirdly calming in a way.

Then out hissed some plumes of smoke.

“Is- IS THAT NORMAL?” Dr Brandt called out.

“ _ IS _ that normal?” Uri reiterated.

Cassidy’s hands clenched.

“It’s uh- It- It should be fine,” Dr Igneous stuttered, “We’re pushing it a bit hard today but it should be safe.”

Oh god not even she sounded confident.

Igneous snapped her fingers. “Oh right! Dr Nimbus, bring the Anti-Mass Spectrometer up to eighty percent and hold it there.”

Right, that was Cassidy’s job. She didn’t really want to, but she turned the dial up anyway.

There was still the occasional hiss. That sick feeling was coming back.

“Okay, onto the next stage.”

“Oh, uh, right.” Cassidy leaned into the mic. “Uh, power to stage one emitters in three... two... one...”

Another button press.

The main beam of the Spectrometer activated, along with three other side pieces spinning in a triangular formation. The entire test chamber was bathed in a light yellow glow.

Uri gave a small whistle.

“Stage two emitters activating now.”

Three more bolts of electricity fizzled between the spinning components and the main beam.

Cassidy let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. The Anti-Mass Spectrometer was fully activated. No turning back now.

She looked down at Dr Brandt and the guard. They were still arguing. Apparently the doctor had been accused of stealing or something. She envied how little they seemed to worry about the experiment itself.

“Bring up the overhead capacitors all the way.”

Cassidy snapped out of her thoughts. “All the way!?”

“Yes, all the way,” Dr Igneous reiterated, “Further actually. 105%.”

Cassidy froze.

Dr Igneous softened. “Look, Administration wouldn’t make us go that high if it wasn’t safe.”

“Wait, have you guys never done this before?” Uri cut in.

“Well... yes and no. This kind of experiment, yes, but we’ve never had the Spectrometer run at 105% before.”

Uri made a worried hum.

“Hey, if anything went wrong, you’re mum’s in an HEV suit. She’ll be fine. You’re friend’s in security armour too.”

“I mean...” Uri paused. “I guess that’s okay.”

That... actually reassured Cassidy a bit too. She turned the dial up.

Igneous turned on the mic.

“Okay Dr Brandt. Overhead Capacitors are at one oh five percent. We don’t know how long we can operate at this capacity, so do try to be quick.”

Dr Brandt chuckled. “Hey, I might be old but have a little more faith in me, okay?”

Dr Igneous smiled.

Just then, a symbol on the control panel lit up.

“Oh, sample’s ready,” said Asturias.

“That’s good, that’s good,” said Igneous.

Cassidy watched as the metal cage below the window slid down into the floor. In it’s place was the orange carrier, holding specimen GG-3883.

She couldn’t help but admire the Xenian crystal, despite its properties. Xen crystals could sometimes look a bit murky and ugly, but the way the Spectrometer’s glow reflected off its angles made it appear quite lustrous. It was a rather pure specimen, after all.

Cassidy gave props to her father for even finding such a thing.

Cassidy leaned into the mic.

“Dr Brandt?” she called out, “Do you see the next step?”

Brandt looked between the carrier and the window.

“Uh, Yes! Now I have to push the test sample into the laser, right?”

“Yes!”

Dr Asturias chimed in. “Do it very carefully!”

“Right, very carefully.” Cassidy took a deep breath. “ _ Slower... than molasses... drips off a spoon. _ ”

Cassidy heard Uri snort at her side.

Dr Brandt also gave a wheeze.

“Right, right, leave it up to me. ‘Standard insertion’ and all that.”

Cassidy held her breath as Dr Brandt began to push the carrier, when she stopped.

“Hey, wait. Is it still okay for two people to be in here? Is that safe?”

“Don’t steal anything.”

“WHAT COULD I STEAL!?”

Oh god there they go again.

The scientist and the guard continued to bicker. Cassidy seriously hoped that whoever let that lady in here would be reprimanded. This was just getting old.

Cassidy could feel the annoyance radiating off her coworkers as well. Uri just covered her face in embarrassment.

Dr Asturias scoffed and grabbed the mic. “Can we PLEASE get back to the task at hand!?”

Dr Brandt stopped. Before the guard could say anything more, she held up a finger, clearly indicating for her to stay quiet.

Good, at least that was over.

Brandt seemingly started muttering to herself, clearly still annoyed but Cassidy didn’t really care at this point.

She grabbed the handles of the carrier and hurriedly pushed it into the beam, practically shoving it.

Cassidy shot up.

“WAIT NO THAT’S TOO FAST-“

But it was too late.

As soon as the crystal touched the laser there was an eruption of green web-like sparks. The crystal fizzled under the beam, until it began to burn with a white light. It shone bright like burned magnesium.

More green sparks danced around the laser, until entire bolts started shooting out randomly from the top of the machine. With each burst the lights flickered and loud metallic bang echoed in the chamber.

“WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Dr Igneous screamed.

The lights in the test chamber shut off completely. All that was left was the ominous green glow of the machine. Bathed in its light Cassidy could see the faces of Dr Brandt and the security guard. Their eyes were wide with terror. Dr Brandt was yelling something but Cassidy couldn’t hear.

A ball of white energy appeared in the middle of the beam. It flickered and sparked, eventually turning green. It got even brighter, sending bolts of green electricity in every direction, fizzling violently. Other vague lights hazed in and out of existence around the test chamber. Small round particles were drawn towards the beam, causing it to burn brighter, and _ brighter, and- _

Cassidy’s eyes BURNED.

Her vision was filled with rapid flashes of green and white. She clasped her hands over her eyes but the afterimage was seared into her retinas. She was kept her eyelids closed tight, scared to open them again. She could only guess what was going on around her based mostly on sound. The harsh, static sounds were barely muffled by the control room’s walls. Mixed with that were the screams of the people around her varying from panicked swearing to pained cries.

The floor under her trembled, making it hard for her to keep her footing. She could hear in the distance muffled explosions, resonating through the walls. Like multiple people were dropping sheets on metal onto concrete. Everything was in chaos.

But most of all, she FELT.

She felt like nobody else in the room could. Whatever had just happened wasn’t just some freak accident. It wasn’t the machine malfunctioning due to the influx of power, it wasn’t just some kind of explosion. Something had been torn. Ripped open forcibly. The very fabric of the space around her felt like it was being lacerated with a rusted knife. Jagged and serrated.

Was THIS what her father had meant!? God, no wonder her father was involved. She had just assumed there’d be some kind of accident, one she’d be apart of. The Spectrometer would malfunction, possibly explode, and there’d be some casualties. Dangerous, but fairly simple. But of course, why would her father’s employers care about something as trivial as that?

She should have known. She should have  _ FUCKING known _ .

The last thing Cassidy heard before blacking out was the sound of shattered glass.

In that moment, she only remembered one thing. A simple phrase her father had taught her long ago. One he held onto like a family mantra.

  
  


_ Prepare for unforeseen consequences. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter today, it took a me a while to work on.
> 
> I know the line at the end is a bit cheesy but I like the idea of it being used as a motto rather than an ominous threat (although it can be that too).


End file.
